Beliefs and common sense guide us in making myriad decisions every day. However, because we believe something to be true or judge it to be true based on "common sense", doesn't make it true. A belief can be validated only by testing it with evidence. This blog is neither right nor left, but undoubtedly will annoy individuals across the spectrum who hold unsupported convictions. My hope is that this blog will encourage us to challenge each others' beliefs and, most importantly, our own.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Obama Evolving - Romney Devolving

Yesterday, the day followingmy post on this subject, President
Obama stated that …I've just concluded
that - for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that -
I think same-sex couples should be able to get married. Thus President Obama became the first sitting
President of the United States to come out in favor of same sex marriage.

Yesterday, Mr. Romney also stated his position on this issue. He reiterated his opposition to same sex
marriage (he favors a Constitutional amendment to ban it on the federal
level). However, in addition he added
that he would oppose civil unions which confer rights similar to those of
marriage. If a civil union is identical
to marriage other than with the name, why, I don’t support that.

The opponents of marriage equality often justify their
opposition by saying that the term marriage
has always meant the union of a man and a woman. Of course, they are wrong about this. In Biblical times marriage was often between
one man and many women and not so long ago in the US the Mormon Church supported
and advocated polygamous marriage. In
any case, one would think that individuals who claim to oppose same sex
marriage because of their reverence for the word marriage would not oppose civil unions which carry another
name. Evidently not, at least in the
case of Mr. Romney. His animus to gays
is such that he doesn’t want to allow them to form any sort of state recognized
union.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why Mr. Romney and
his fellow travelers on this issue are so determined to deny couples who are
committed to each other from marrying and forming families. It will not adversely affect in any way Mr.
Romney’s marriage, my marriage, or any other heterosexual marriage. Mr. Romney should know - one of his residences
is in Massachusetts which has had legal same sex marriage for years. The results have only been positive.

Mr. Obama’s statement is a welcome development and should serve
to sustain the ongoing sharp increase in the fraction of Americans who support
same sex marriage (now a majority with approximately 50% in favor and 45%
opposed, compared to approximately 35% in favor and 60% opposed just a decade
ago). Of course, there is regional
variation, with same sex marriage still being opposed in the Bible Belt - as indicated
by this week’s vote to amend the North Carolina constitution to ban same sex
marriage. However, even there the vote
would have been much more lopsided a decade ago.

As welcome as Mr. Obama’s statement is, it certainly did not
go far enough. Mr. Obama presented his
position as his personal view and said that the decision on whether to permit
same sex marriage is a state issue.

In the United States civil rights emphatically
have been under federal jurisdiction and not delegated to the states. As I recall, we fought a rather bloody civil
war to establish this principle. More
recently, specifically on the topic of freedom to marry, in Loving v. Virginia
the US Supreme Court struck down anti-miscegenation laws that were in place in
many states that prohibited blacks and whites from marrying each other. The US Supreme Court thus established the
right to marry as a US Constitutional right.

Mr. Obama has done more for gay rights than any previous US
President by overseeing the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and deeming the
Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional and supporting that position in
ongoing court cases. Yesterday’s
statement that he is personally in favor of same sex marriage is most
welcome. However, Mr. Obama’s evolution will not be complete until he
advocates for full marriage equality as a fundamental federal civil right.

In contrast, Mr. Romney’s past and present positions are
contemptible. He is continuing to
devolve – whether or not he accepts the theory of evolution.